FCMs demand Eurex clearing revisions

European FCMs have grown increasingly concerned about the
impact that plans for phase two of Eurex's global clearing link
will have on their operations. At a forum hosted by FOW, they
said that they will incur additional costs and have to
implement a number of complex operational procedures in order
to participate in a move which appears to
offer little benefit to them or their users.

Under phase two, Eurex's European operations will close 90
minutes earlier than currently, at 4.30pm (GMT) rather than the
current 6pm close, with trading after that switching to Eurex
US, which will operate until 4pm (CST).

FCM representatives who spoke at the forum said they saw
little demand for extending trading hours for Eurex products
beyond 6pm, even outside Europe.

"We haven't seen any push, nor any real interest from
clients [for an extension of hours]," said Christine Snow,
senior vp futures and options operations at Fimat Group in
Chicago. "If we have to start looking at extra clearing hours
operationally we're not seeing the need for it on the
commercial side."